We knew that Michael Fassbender was the only guaranteed returning cast member of ALIEN: COVENANT, which will focus on the titular ship landing on what may be the Engineers’ home planet that his character was bound for at the end of PROMETHEUS. Now, we know who the female lead following the footsteps of Sigourney Weaver, Sanaa Lathan, and Noomi Rapace is: Katherine Waterston.
The INHERENT VICE star will head up Ridley Scott’s sequel. No word on whether Rapace’s Elizabeth Shaw will be making an appearance, of if this sequel will be taking place so long in the future that Shaw would have been long dead, no matter what her fate.
Waterston and Fassbender just worked together on STEVE JOBS, so it’s not a stretch to think he nudged for her to get the gig. In both VICE and JOBS, I found Waterston to be something of a bland, vague presence, but that could’ve just been what the roles called for. As someone who found Rapace’s turn to be surprisingly more complicated and vulnerable than was expected, I’m sorta bummed that someone else is heading up the next film, but I can’t argue that the question of what happened to Shaw is now yet another of its intriguing mysteries.
I’m not gonna lie, this sort of tempers my excitement for this film a bit, but the ball’s in Waterston’s court to prove that she can headline a massive genre tentpole like this.
Now, let’s see if they fill her ship up with the likes of Idris Elba, Charlize Theron, and Guy Pearce.
